Many different chemical, biochemical, and other reactions are sensitive to temperature variations. The reactions may be enhanced or inhibited based on the temperatures of the materials involved. Although it may be possible to process samples individually and obtain accurate sample-to-sample results, individual processing can be time-consuming and expensive.
Examples of some thermal processes that may be sensitive to temperature variations include, e.g., the manipulation of nucleic acid samples to assist in the deciphering of the genetic code. See, e.g., T. Maniatis et al. Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1982). Nucleic acid manipulation techniques include amplification methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR); target polynucleotide amplification methods such as self-sustained sequence replication (3SR) and strand-displacement amplification (SDA); methods based on amplification of a signal attached to the target polynucleotide, such as “branched chain” DNA amplification; methods based on amplification of probe DNA, such as ligase chain reaction (LCR) and QB replicase amplification (QBR); transcription-based methods, such as ligation activated transcription (LAT) and nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA); and various other amplification methods, such as repair chain reaction (RCR) and cycling probe reaction (CPR). Other examples of nucleic acid manipulation techniques include, e.g., Sanger sequencing, ligand-binding assays, etc.
One approach to reducing the time and cost of thermally processing multiple samples using such techniques is to use a device including multiple chambers in which different portions of one sample or different samples can be processed simultaneously. Although widely accepted standardized systems have been developed using microtiter plates having, e.g., 96, 384 or more wells arranged in rectangular arrays to speed the processing of multiple sample, even faster sample processing is still desired.
One disadvantage of many devices designed to provide faster processing is, however, their non-standard format as compared to, e.g., the widely accepted standard microtiter plates including wells arranged in rectangular arrays. As a result, it may be prohibitive in terms of, e.g., equipment costs, test result acceptance, etc. for a facility to abandon the industry standard processes completely and adopt a new test methodology and new equipment.